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Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

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Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#141

Post by anal_reactor »

Gigachad wrote: post #135
anal_reactor wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw a graph somewhere that vast majority of income from OnlyFans is earned by a small number of top performers. I assume that something similar happens in the furry community.

Not really. Onlyfans creators are selling the same content to lots of people, while furry artists are selling their time slots for custom art. The top artists can charge more for their time, but there is still a limit to how many pieces of work they can put out each week so the money is pretty well spread down to the less popular artists who are more readily available to take on work.

Yes, but there's also Patreon for people who are ready to financially support artists, while they don't want to buy commissions.

I wonder what the ratio between these two is

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#142

Post by antirez »

ornornor wrote: post #139
antirez wrote: post #32

Well, he is using code as a tool, as a mean to reach his goals. I believe this is the best way to write code, after all. Should almost be the only sensible way. It's just that in 2024, having a programming job is 90% of times doing things you don't care with tools you don't want to use. The problem is not programming itself.

You forgot to mention terrible managers, abusive “business” people, and utterly broken processes that put all of the responsibility and none of the agency on the developers themselves.

Yes, you are right. Often the "environment" sucks as well.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#143

Post by ertgbnm »

kodt wrote: post #70
ertgbnm wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Masseuse or physical trainer are the only jobs that I can think would qualify. No screen time, no one needs a midnight massage (although your work hours would probably not be 9-5.), not reliant on technology, and going to take a while for AI to replace. Very few good jobs fulfill criteria number 2.

Don't most physical labor jobs and trades fulfill number 2?

Not necessarily. A lot of contractors are on call at a moments notice, work crazy hours, and take home all sorts of health related problems.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#144

Post by AlecSchueler »

onemoresoop wrote: post #50
AlecSchueler wrote: post #45

I did this some years ago myself and I want to say the only thing I miss is...agile working! Throw your tomatoes now. It's fantastic to work in this field and very fulfilling but I consistently find the quality of teamwork and coordination to be much lacking compared to my engineering past. I wish I could sit down with a group of musicians and give them a bunch of Jira tickets to work on for the sprint before the upc…

> I wish I could sit down with a group of musicians and give them a bunch of Jira tickets to work on for the sprint before the upcoming rehearsal. They'd most likely become your little slaves if you paid them. The reason people put up with such bureaucratic systems and bosses is the pay. And many quit in frustration for lower pay and more freedom.

> They'd most likely become your little slaves if you paid them

That would be great but because most of these people are in the "quit out of frustration for lower pay and more freedom" bracket they're not always so easy to persuade with the carrot of cash. More likely they'll just turn down the project and move onto another.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#145

Post by cosiiine »

helboi4 wrote: post #35

Bruh I was just opening up my computer to apply for a CS masters to advance my career as a languages & humanities degree holder turned SE who always wanted to do art. Now I'm back to thinking I should try and work on art until it can take over my career. It's sort of upsetting that doing something I'm bad at (SE) makes me more money than anything I'm good at. Feels like it traps me.

You can make art with code and make a living from it. Start looking at generative and algorithmic artists for some inspiration. Owning one of these pen plotters (look at the axidraw and next draw) helps too.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#146

Post by onemoresoop »

Apocryphon wrote: post #116
onemoresoop wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're also underestimating the amount of great quality art that simply doesn't sell. Hence the power of marketing. And the art that sells for lots and lots of money is also marketing and financial gimmicks the art world does behind the scenes. Unfortunately it's not quality that matters, it's the notoriety of the artist. It goes back to marketing in circles.

Perhaps the same can be said of tech.

Oh, absolutely.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#147

Post by temp0826 »

sgonline wrote: post #112
temp0826 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI is hitting engineering now too, no? (Sure in small ways now, but I imagine it would be one of the first targets considering it is engineers doing it) Since covid I left tech and have been working at ayahuasca retreat centers (assisting and managing) and apprenticing. Frankly I can't imagine a career less at risk to AI replacement! Maybe someone should start a job board for AI-proof gigs.

Who do you think is going to pay for the retreats when all the high paying white collar jobs are gone? the economy will collapse which inevitably will affect you regardless of your job

The majority of our clientele don't really fit that demographic, our prices are pretty reasonable and we probably could lower them further. I don't think we'd be terribly affected unless something catastrophic happens.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#148

Post by tithe »

tithe wrote: post #60
dottjt wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any ideas on actual roles? I think the thing that kills me is the mental exhaustion of software development. Just thinking about how to solve problems all day is mentally taxing.

Construction trades (e.g., any role involved in building a house).

Also, woodworking (furniture, cabinetry, etc.).

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#149

Post by neocritter »

m463 wrote: post #75
datadrivenangel wrote: post #20

Reminds me of the classic: "Sorry I missed your comment of many months ago. I no longer build software; I now make furniture out of wood. The hours are long, the pay sucks, and there's always the opportunity to remove my finger with a table saw, but nobody asks me if I can add an RSS feed to a DBMS, so there's that :-)" https://github.com/docker/cli/issues/267#issuecomment-695149...

and that right there is why RSS is dying. :)

RSS is fine. A thing doesn't have to make headlines with VC rounds and take over the world to be alive and well.

Re: Quitting engineering to pursue art full-time

#150

Post by InitialLastName »

bityard wrote: post #91
redbell wrote: post #48

If I were to transition from software engineering, I'd prioritize a role that meets the following criteria: 1. Minimizes screen time and doesn't rely heavily on computers for productivity. 2. Allows me to disconnect after work without constant notifications or calls. 3. Offers stability, requiring minimal adaptation to new trends or technologies. 4. Lastly, and more importantly, not easily replaceable by AI in the ne…

These are the roles I seriously considered and actively explored to some degree or another. 1. Electrician. It's not something you can just jump into, even if you're the type who can grok 100% of the theory, equipment, and electrical code overnight. Even after you're all trained up, you have to rank up through various levels, most of which require working under someone else for X number of years. It takes a decade or…

> Aircraft mechanic.

I have family in this field; not only is the pay not great (for the skill level) but there is a layer of stress (and liability) that gets added to jobs where one mistake can mean death for someone else. I wouldn't jump into it without being sure that stress wouldn't affect me.

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